“This changes nothing,” I tell Cami. My stomach churns, but I try not to let my nerves show. “We’ll just have to find our own way in.”

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”

I jump at the intruding voice, spinning toward the alcove entrance to find Arryn standing there, hands on her hips. I can’t read the expression on her face, her features blank, her gaze assessing.

“If you’re planning to stop us, don’t bother,” I tell her, positioning myself to mimic her body language.

“I didn’t say anything about stopping you.” She shrugs and adds, “What do I care if you get captured again?”

The way she says it is so dismissive, so uncaring, that I’m taken aback. I presumed she would be like Kael, laying down the law and forbidding us from attempting what is likely a doomed mission. Instead, she seems apathetic.

“If you’re not here to stop us, then what …?” Cami trails off.

Arryn looks from Cami back to me and says, “I overheard Keeda turn you down, so what’s your backup plan? How do you intend to infiltrate a secure underground facility?”

Her mocking tone isn’t lost on me.

“It’s none of your business,” I say, for lack of anything better to offer.

“It is if I’m coming with you.”

I’m sure my surprise must be visible. Cami’s golden eyebrows are arching so high that they’ve disappeared under her bangs.

Before I can respond, Arryn continues, “Face it, neither of you have any idea what you’re doing. I’m your only chance at getting in and back out.”

I want to argue with her about her first sentence, but I’m too curious about her second. “What makes you so confident?”

“Because I’ve done it before,” Arryn says. There’s no smugness in her voice, no arrogance. Just a statement of facts. “I’ve been sneaking in and out of Lengard for years without anyone noticing me.”

I don’t know what to say to that. I want to ask why, but given the warning look in her eyes, I doubt she’ll answer. Instead, I narrow my own and say, “Why would you help us? You’ve made it clear that you don’t care about us.”

“We’re not children in a schoolyard,” Arryn replies. “How I feel about you is irrelevant. What matters is that we complete our failed mission from last night. You want to free Ward, I want to free the Speaker who slipped through our fingers. If we work together, we have a chance of doing both.”

I don’t inform her that our interests are aligned regarding the breakout teen. I want to free him as much as she does, perhaps more.

“If you can get in and out on your own, why would you bother with us?” Cami asks.

It’s a good question, one that raises my suspicions. I can’t help wondering if Kael sent Arryn here as some kind of glorified babysitter whose job is to lead us on a wild-goose chase. For all I know, everything she’s saying is a lie—she might never have been inside Lengard; she might have no intention of helping us. She could simply be a distraction.